Boni in Chinese Sources - Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre - iseas

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Kurz: Boni in Chinese Sources NSC Working Paper No. 4to poisoning. Equally amazing is the total absence of any information on earlier relationsbetween Boni and China in at least the Ming dynasty. However, it may be asking too muchof a work that was definitely written to provide geographical information only. The Westernguests may refer to Europeans, it may however also refer to people arriving at the placefrom a western direction in general. We do not know if Aleni was familiar with Europeanrecords of Borneo from Pigafetta to Dr. Sande; however, he does not refer to them at all.V. BONI IN TEXTS FROM THE QING DYNASTYBoni 渤泥 in the Explanatory History of the Remote Regions (Bahong yishi 八紘譯史 ),1683The Bahong yishi is a work by Lu Ciyun 陸次雲 , the preface of which is dated 1683.The entry on Boni is composed of details from Song Lian’s report from the early Mingdynasty, but it also refers to older texts in its description of local products and curious items.Boni is a vassal of Shepo and it is situated in the great ocean in the southwest. Theland is hot, and has much rain and wind. Wooden palisades make a fortification. Theking lives in a house that is covered with palm leaves. 145 The king ties his hair in aknot and is barefooted. He wraps coloured cotton cloth around the loins. When hegoes out, he walks.Many of the people are fishermen. They wear their hair loose and go barefooted.They use the juice from the pulp of the coconut palm to make alcohol. They do nothave rice, but they catch fish and crabs, that they eat together with shahu 沙糊 .Shahu is a thick liquid made from the pith of a tree. 146 [When the liquid has] settled,the powder [made of it,] can be used for cakes. To eat [the people there] do nothave utensils and vessels, to write they do not have brushes. They carve Nipa palmleaves with a knife [instead]. They serve the Buddha very respectfully. Forentertainment they beat drums and sound cymbals to produce music. During theHongwu era [Boni] submitted tribute. The [accompanying] memorial read: “I, yourvassal Mahemosha, king of Boni, thought that these last years all under heaven wasnot peaceful and quite. Therefore I stayed in my territory, and did not have an145 The original text says cowrie leaves beiye 貝葉 , which is certainly wrong, and should instead read beiduoye貝多葉 like in the older texts.146 Shushi 樹實 literally translated refers to the solid part of the tree.48
Kurz: Boni in Chinese Sources NSC Working Paper No. 4overlord all the same. Now envoys that you have sent have arrived, and they haveproclaimed the emperor’s orders. I have learned that the emperor has ascended tothe imperial position and now is the ruler of all under heaven. My heart is full of joy(hao xihuan). My country is a small place under the administration of Shepo. So howcould I have been worthy of the emperor’s attention? Several days ago, the peopleof Sulu having no principles sent evil men who harmed every one of my people. Werely on the distinguished blessings of the emperor, and are happy to suffer no moreharm to our family and people. Now I have [only] worthless things, and only a fewuseless objects, and I am about to order those who as my head and eyes arerepresenting me, to leave in order to follow the envoys sent by the emperor to seethe emperor. Consequently we come with tribute to the emperor.”So plain and simple was the text.Local things and products:The bazalan 把雜蘭 resembles a goat and a deer. In its belly grows a medicinalstone that can cure all kinds of strange diseases. It sells hundredfold its value.Nipa palm leaves are used to cover houses. Knitted together with bamboo theymake food containers.The root of the medicine tree is used to make an ointment. Applying it on the bodyweapons cannot harm it. 147The Bahong yishi does not provide any new information, but sums up knowledgetaken from the TPHYJ and other works. This is apparent in the description of local products.The bazalun certainly is the bazaer of the Zhifang waiji; the houses covered with palmleaves is an information derived from the TPHYJ; and the medicinal tree for the first time ismentioned in the ZFZ.The work stands in a tradition of arranging knowledge by the cut and paste method,and is thus not strictly original; however, the statement by Nicholl, that the Chinese sincethe early Ming referred to Boni as Wenlai has to be qualified. In the early Qing at least theBahong yishi did not relate Boni to Wenlai.147 Lu Ciyun, Bahong yishi (CSJC), 2.23‐24.49
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